Falcons drop to 3-12; beat rival Kingsland

The losing streak had gotten to nine for the Fillmore Central boys basketball team, before the 41-31 win over Kingsland last Friday night.

In the win, FC was led by Nick Powell and Logan Masters. Powell scored a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds and Logan Masters had 10 points, including eight of nine from the free throw line. Andrew Coyle chipped in seven points and Dan Gatzke had five points and 11 rebounds.

Earlier in the week, the guys lost a TRC game to St. Charles, 76-65. In the loss to the Saints, Dan Gatzke had 23 points and Nick Powell had 20. Logan Masters had a fine floor game with 10 assists, four rebounds and three steals. Jacob Tammel had eight points, including two from "downtown." Gatzke hit nine of his 11 field goal attempts (81.8 percent) and Powell was 9/15 (60.0 percent). Tammel connected on three of his six shots, 50.0 percent. Quentin Case hit two of three field goals and Andy Coyle was two for four. As a team, Fillmore Central had one of its better shooting games, connecting on 27 of 51, 52.9 percent, but still lost the game by 11.

The Falcons held an eight point lead prior to the intermission, 20-12, but St. Charles finished off the first half with a 21-8 run to take a five point lead at 33-28. Fillmore Central came within three, 56-53, in the second half, but that was as close as they got.

This past Monday, the Falcons lost a close game to Spring Grove, 71-67, a game that will surely have sub-section seeding implications later in the season.

Fillmore Central had three ballplayers in double-figures against the Lions, who took on the Falcons with four seniors, two freshman and an eighth grader. Both senior Dan Gatzke and junior Nick Powell finished the night with 18 points, while senior Jake Tammel came in with 15. And not only did Powell and Gatzke have the same number of points, they both finished the night with 11 rebounds. Senior Cal Larson had a fine game, scoring three points and pulling down five rebounds in heavy traffic.

Junior Logan Masters had four assists, in spite of spending a considerable amount of time on the bench with foul trouble.

Turnovers and free throws, for Spring Grove, proved to be the won-lost deciding factor for the Falcons. FC had 27 turnovers and 26 fouls, sending the Lions to the line 34 times. They hit 23 of those charity tosses, countering the Falcons 13 for 21 shooting at the line.

The varsity team is now 3-12 on the season, 2-9 in the Three Rivers Conference. Tuesday the Falcons hosted the Chatfield Gophers and Thursday they will entertain their "northern namesake" from Wabasha-Kellogg.

"In each of our three losses, turnovers and foul trouble have been an issue, said coach Aaron Mensink. "In the Kingsland win, free throws won us the game, along with a couple of big baskets from Tyson Ristau, coming on offensive rebounds. In the final minute and one-half, Zach, Bryce and Jordan combined to go seven for seven from the free throw line to seal the deal."